A woman abducted from her home in Sydney and found dead in a car was targeted over her partner’s involvement in an organised crime group, police allege.
Thi Kim Tran, 45, originally from Vietnam, was kidnapped from her home in Bankstown and killed on April 17.
Her body was found in a torched car in Beverly Hills.
NSW Police homicide squad commander Joe Doueihi today said police believe Tran was killed over her partner’s association with a criminal drug manufacturing network.
LIVE UPDATES: Pope Francis dies aged 88
Doueihi said police believe the man was in “conflict” with his superiors within the alleged crime network.
“The motivation is a clear result of the male partner’s involvement in an organised crime network,” Doueihi alleged today.
Police say he was also known to them over minor drug offences.
Doueihi said Tran’s de facto partner, who was away on business at the time, has been assisting police in the investigation.
An investigation into the death and crime group is being conducted by both NSW and Victoria Police.
Doueihi said a search warrant conducted at a rural property in the Melbourne suburb of Springdallah resulted in evidence “supportive of a drug lab” being discovered.
He said an investigation into the crime group, which consists mainly of Vietnamese males on a local level, was ongoing.
Tran is not believed to have been involved in any criminality.
She was at home with a young child and teenager at the time of her kidnapping.
READ MORE: Man charged with murder over death of NSW teen Audrey Griffin, who was found in creek
Doueihi said an eight-year-old boy is still in an induced coma after he was bashed with a baseball bat during the attack, but medical staff are hopeful he will wake today.
A 15-year-old was uninjured however Doueihi said he suffered severe “psychological injury” as a result of watching his mother attacked and kidnapped.
Doueihi said Tran and the children were innocent victims.
“The level of violence is “rare and unprecedented,” he said.
“They’re callous, brutal and are offences against innocent people.”
Doueihi issued a warning to anyone involved with organised crime groups and said it could place loved ones in “significant risk”.
Police are seeking information from members of the public who have any knowledge of the victim or the organised crime group.
DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
